Puzzle

Introduction

Ah, Curse of Blackmoor Manor. This was the first game I remember both my mom and I playing, swapping puzzle tips. It holds a lot of fond memories for me.

Story

Linda, the daughter of Nancy’s next-door neighbor, recently moved to London and married Hugh Penvellyn, a successful ambassador. The couple recently moved into the Penvellyn Estate, Blackmoor Manor. Soon after moving to the beautiful and historically rich manor, Linda was taken by a strange illness. Nancy has been sent by her neighbor to investigate and help in whatever way she can.

Characters

Mrs. Petrov and Hugh Penvellyn, both of whom asked Nancy to come and help out with Linda, are unseen characters. Linda’s mom is at home in the States, while Hugh is off being an ambassador.

Linda (Petrov) Penvellyn is the most mysterious character in the game and the impetus for the entire story. Shortly after moving into Blackmoor Manor, she became ill with symptoms she doesn’t like to discuss. She refuses to be seen, and the few conversations she’s willing to have take place behind a thick bed curtain. She’s convinced she’s not ill, but cursed. Could she really be transforming into the legendary Beast of Blackmoor?

Jane Penvellyn is Hugh’s daughter from his previous marriage. She’s bright and loves to play games when she’s not in her studies, but her loneliness is obvious. Being schooled at the manor keeps her separated from her peers, her father is often out of the country, her mother lives in Paris, and Linda is completely occupied with her illness. The only real interaction she has with anyone besides Nancy is with Ethel, her tutor.

Ethel Bossiny tutors Jane, as the Bossinys have tutored the Penvellyns for centuries. She’s not particularly talkative, since most of her time at the manor is spent in lessons with Jane, then she leaves. But she does show up occasionally, and always in places you wouldn’t expect. Pair that with her odd lesson focuses, and you’ve got quite the suspicious character.

Mrs. Drake is Hugh’s aunt, who has been living in the manor for years. She doesn’t believe in the dark tales surrounding the manor, and thinks you would do well to ignore such nonsense, thank you very much. She is slightly worried about Linda, but thinks she’s just being overdramatic, so her sympathy is limited. Instead, most of her warmth is reserved for her large collection of exotic plants.

Nigel Mookerjee is a writer who’s determined to spread the as-yet untold story of the Penvellyn family. Mrs. Drake has allowed him full reign of the library for his research, but he seems much more interested in rumor and scandal than true family history. He is particularly interested in the Penvellyn family treasure and may just be clever enough to sicken Linda in order to chase the family off the property.

LouLou is a parrot that has been in the Penvellyn family for a long time. She’s old and clever, and is a great resource for hints and information about the castle and its secrets. Plus she’s really cute.

Gameplay

CoBM continues the strong gameplay mechanics of Secret of Shadow Ranch, which is definitely a plus. Nancy still has her semi-smart phone, her notebook with tasks and observations, and a subdivided inventory screen. All the features continue to “just work” without getting in the way of the game.

The atmospheric manor makes a great backdrop for a game, and it’s a grand time exploring all its various nooks and crannies. I became occasionally frustrated by the amount of running back and forth required to do a lot of the puzzles, but since everything takes place within the manor, it never took very long.

Going purely on gut feelings and no real facts at all, CoBM is the longest game of the series so far. Towards the end of the game, I was certainly ready for it to be over so I could move on, as the manor was becoming all-too familiar.

What Makes This One Special

No new features are present in CoBM, but that’s ok. Secret of Shadow Ranch revolutionized the way the series is presented, and having two games to settle into those features works well.

Recommendation

Definitely give Curse of Blackmoor Manor a spin if you haven’t already. It’s a great game with excellent puzzles, and only mildly frustrating travel mechanics (I’m still not quite over Danger on Deception Islandyet). It’s perfect for those who are familiar with the point-and-click mystery genre, but also a great hook for those who haven’t yet played them.

Does this post look familiar? It is a lightly-edited repost from my old blog.

Introduction

Not going to lie, I think of Danger on Deception Island as a dud. If you’ve poked through this blog for any amount of time, you know I love Her Interactive and think they’re fantastic, but no company is perfect, and they’re no exception. DoDI falls flat.

Plot Summary

Bess and George have arranged a vacation for Nancy so she can take a much-needed break from work. But, as usual, Nancy stumbles into another case. A lone orca has made its way to Deception Island and has sparked political wildfires that have swept through the harbor faster than anyone was prepared for. The people whose livelihood depends on the sea are annoyed that they can’t just cart the whale out, while the environmentalists want everyone to leave well enough alone. When Nancy’s hostess finds her boat nearly destroyed by vandals who don’t agree with her views, Nancy knows things are more dangerous than they seem.

Characters

Katie Firestone is George’s friend and Nancy’s host. She runs whale-watching tours that are able to get much closer to the orca than any other, which many view as an exploitation of her position as a scientist. She’s headstrong and outspoken, and her opinions on the orca have not won her favor with other residents of the harbor.

Holt Scotto is a fisherman who has made his living from the harbor almost his entire life. Now he’s running for harbormaster as a representative of the traditional fisherman. He hates that the orca is in the harbor, as she’s eating up the fish and forcing fishing boats to detour, costing them pricey fuel.

Andy Jason owns Whale World, a educational center and whale-watching tour company. He is enthusiastic in his love for whales and has done well for himself business-wise. So well, in fact, that he’s offered to buy Katie out multiple times, which she has steadfastedly refused. Could he be so wrapped up in his business that he’s willing to destroy her rather than live with the competition?

Jenna Deblin owns a cafe on the harbor that’s been passed down her family line. She’s chatty, friendly, and well-liked by almost everyone, but when it comes to Katie and her desire to move the whale to an aquarium, she becomes quite contrary. She wants the whale to be rejoined with its pod as quickly as possible so it can live out its natural life. Could her inner fire be so hot that she would unleash her rage by destroying Katie?

Gameplay and Puzzles

DoDI had great potential to be a game right up my alley. I love animals, so a storyline revolving around an animal and the tricky moral standing of captivity vs. life in the wild sounded great. But the gameplay shoots everything down. I felt like I was never in the right place in the game and had to travel constantly. Con.Stant.Ly. And the travel in this one suuuuucks. You have to ride a bike everywhere, which is fine, but you have to watch your progress on a map and it takes forever. And God forbid you forget to click on the helmet before getting on the bike. Instant death. Even though the helmet is hanging on the handlebars and one would ASSUME that it automatically got applied when clicking on the bike for travel! (Ask me how many times I forgot to click on the helmet…)

Found randomly on Pinterest. I’m not the only one.

Then, the main puzzle of the game forces you to travel around in this stupid kayak with the worst controls ever. I hate that kayak so much. And I was in it ALL THE FREAKING TIME! Gah. I’m done talking about this. It’s bad.

What Makes This One Special

Uhm, the terrible travel mechanics?

Summary

Skip it. Skip it, skip it, skip it. I don’t care that you like whales. SKIP IT. There are so many fantastic games for you to play in the series; don’t waste your time on this one.

Introduction

This is a post I’ve been both looking forward to and dreading. You see, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake was the first Nancy Drew game I played and remains my favorite to date. It’s near and dear to my heart, which makes it pretty much impossible to view objectively. Fortunately, it wasn’t just my nostalgia coloring my fondness for the title. It holds up to the passage of time pretty well and remains a solid game.

Not the most welcoming place to come spend the night alone.

Story

Nancy’s father’s friend, Sally McDonald, recently bought an old cabin to fix up in the Moon Lake area of Pennsylvania. It’s a beautiful area and a nature-lover’s paradise. But soon after buying the home, Sally started receiving terrifying visits from ghost dogs who attack the house. By time Nancy arrives to investigate, Sally has become so frightened that she’s left, leaving Nancy alone in the haunted old house.

Now, I realize that a cabin haunted by ghost dogs sounds really, really stupid, but Her Interactive has the skill to bring the idea to life. The first night you’re there, you experience one of their attacks, and it’s scary. Back when I was a kid, this was the first game I played that scared me. I didn’t know games could be scary, and it added a whole new dimension to the way I approached play.

Characters

At this point, Her Interactive has proved that it knows how to make great characters. Ghost Dogs‘s cast is no exception.

Too bad I don’t like fishing. I’d like to be on Emily’s Wall of Fame.

Emily Griffen owns the general store Em’s Emporium. It has everything the tourist camper would need to enjoy his or her time on the lake, and many of the basic staples residents would need as well. She’s obsessed with combing the lake for Prohibition-era treasures, and firmly believes that Mickey Malone’s cabin houses valuable secrets.

I like Emily because she’s just so normal. She runs her business, has some strong opinions on what’s best for her community, wishes for more for herself, and is just living her life. She’s down-to-earth and easy to relate to.

For heaven’s sake, don’t scare the birds!

Red Knott is an avid birdwatcher who comes to Moon Lake every year. He hates tourists and doesn’t like Sally much, since her cabin — long abandoned — is right next to his stand. The loud renovations and general noise of living have scared away many of his precious birds, and he may have turned to extreme measures to rid the area of her.

Everyone loves a man in uniform.

Jeff Akers loves his job as a park ranger, which is good, since he’s the only one at Moon Lake. He strictly adheres to all rules and regulations, and takes a great deal of pleasure from making others adhere to them as well. He was desperately hoping that the parks department would purchase the land Sally’s cabin is situated on, expanding the size of the park and allowing for more tourism. Perhaps he wanted it badly enough to scare away the obstacle to his career success.

Puzzles

There are lots of different kinds of puzzles in this one, which help to make it so good. There are “arrange the things” puzzles, “find the things” puzzles, and “figure out how to fix the thing” puzzles. While this isn’t much different from other games in the series, there are a better-than-usual mix of the puzzle types. And a higher frequency of them in general. Rather than the game progressing due to overtly triggered events (here’s looking at you Stay Tuned for Danger), the plot moves forward based on Nancy’s ability to get puzzles solved. What I mean by this is, there’s more action on the player’s end and less dialogue tree manipulation and looking at the right thing at the right time. This makes everything feel more involved and fun.

New Features

Nothing new, which isn’t a bad thing. Her Interactive has found a system of features that works, and it’s sticking to what it knows it can do well. Nothing stands out as spectacular because everything works seamlessly, which is the best situation to be in, honestly.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran of Nancy Drew or mystery games or looking to get your feet wet, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake is an excellent gaming choice. In fact, I just replayed it myself AND found a copy to gift to my cousin-in-law who has started getting interested in puzzle gaming. If people are interested in the genre, I always recommend Ghost Dogs.

Please Don’t Touch Anything is a tiny game that looks really boring at first. The entire thing takes place in one room — really just a desk in a room — so there’s just one screen. You can’t move or look around, just stare at this bland, industrial-looking desk and wall with a screen on it. The only exciting thing is this big red button.

An irresistible big red button. A button you just have to press, even though the game tells you not to. Even though the very title of the game tells you not to. But that’s all you can do.

Then the whole game opens up as a beautiful little gem of a mystery puzzler.

I love games where the whole game is pretty much just figuring out what the game is. No tutorials, no guidance, just a whole lot of trial and error. Please Don’t Touch Anything is a great example of this format. And it lends itself well to playing in short chunks, rather than long sessions, because there are a bunch of different endings that happen when you go through that trial and error process. I’ve “beat” the game quite a few times now, and each time took me a maximum of 15 minutes.

I hesitate to say anything else about the game, because the joy of it lies in the unfolding, but if your curiosity is roused, here’s the Steam page. I’d recommend it to puzzle fans, especially those who are looking for something to play in those odd pockets of time where you want to play a game, but don’t have much time to devote to the session.

Introduction

I remember hating Secret of the Scarlet Hand when I was younger, though I can’t remember why. I was dreading its approach in the queue, but was pleasantly surprised with my actual experience. I suppose the deeply historical subject matter was just a little too dry for my taste back in the day.

Story

After the harrowing experience of seeing her friend kidnapped in The Final Scene, Nancy craves a summer of normalcy. Using her dad’s contacts, she snags a summer internship at the Beech Hill Museum in Washington, D.C. to help them prepare for their special exhibition on the Maya.

As the museum is preparing for opening night, one of its prize pieces — an incredibly rare and valuable jade carving — is stolen. The thief left behind a cryptic note consisting of ancient glyphs and a ghoulish red hand-print. In order to avoid scandal, the museum’s Board of Directors asks Nancy to work on the case.

All in all, the story of Scarlet Hand is great fun and fairly believable. Nancy is the type of character who would excel at curatorial work, and solving a modern mystery with historical implications winds up being much more entertaining than it sounds. In fact, I think I learned more about the Maya from playing Scarlet Hand than I ever did in school — and had a great time doing it. I know that it wouldn’t be a game if there weren’t a mystery involved, but it seems a shame that Nancy doesn’t get to have a normal internship with the museum. Everything about the position seems right for her.

Characters

Scarlet Hand has a great cast of characters. There are the four main suspects that drive the interaction in the game, but there are also a number of other characters to speak to as well. The scope of the mystery has Nancy speaking with museum curators, post-modern artists, wealthy philanthropists, and even smugglers. Unlike many of the other games, the phone is not just for calling Bess and George. In fact, I barely called Bess and George during this one.

Beech Hill’s curator, Joanna Riggs, is passionate about her job and enthusiastic about the upcoming Maya exhibit. However, her excitement comes with a fair amount of stress, which she occasionally unleashes on Nancy. As someone who has done event planning, I understand.

Henrik van der Hune is the resident expert on Maya glyphs and dropped everything to come work on translating Beech Hill’s newly acquired monolith. I really liked Henrik because he’s obviously super intelligent and it would have been easy for the game designers to paint him as an aloof or holier-than-thou scholar. Goodness knows a lot of people who are the top of their field appear that way in media. But Henrik never gets impatient with Nancy’s questions and encourages her to learn as much as she can about the Maya culture he cares so much about. His lovely voice doesn’t hurt his charm either.

The anticipated success of Beech Hill’s monolith unveiling means that Mexico has a vested interest in what’s going on. Alejandro del Rio is an ambassador to the Mexican Consulate and has a hand in making sure everything Beech Hill does with Mexican artifacts is on the up-and-up. He’s mistrustful of American museums due to the long history of shady dealings in Mexican antiquities and feels that his country has been robbed of important aspects of its heritage. His passion is infectious, but sometimes becomes overwhelming and — under the circumstances — suspicious.

The art dealer, Taylor Sinclair, is my least favorite character in the game. He just feels too broadly drawn, too reliant on art dealer stereotypes. He sees art and artifacts only in terms of their monetary value, not their beauty or cultural significance. I’m so tired of seeing this stereotype and never any art dealers that are genuinely excited by art. His ugly tie did nothing to endear him to me either.

Scarlet Hand does a great job of keeping suspicion spread across the characters without pointing the finger towards any one in particular. But it also felt perfectly natural when the perpetrator was revealed.

Puzzles

Scarlet Hand”s puzzle elements are restricted to Beech Hill, mostly in the form of mini-games. The museum features a temple full of games that guests can play through in order to see more artifacts and exhibits. It’s a cool idea, but I didn’t enjoy it. I prefer puzzles that involve logic or object manipulation, but Scarlet Hand’s puzzles are mostly data entry. You go around and explore the museum for answers to trivia games. The nice thing about the data-entry style is that I never got absurdly stuck on a puzzle, because I knew I’d be able to find the answer somewhere.

New Features

Nancy got a laptop! It’s not that big of a deal, because it’s basically only used to read a couple of floppy disks (how cute) hidden around the game, but still. It’s a move to get Nancy up with the times. And it’s a feature that will stick around and be expanded upon later in the series.

Technical Difficulties

As with the rest of the ND games thus far, I had some difficulty installing the game. I claim no technical knowledge of why it happens, but these older games have a hard time running on new computers. Fortunately, as with the others, it was an easy fix. I just typed “pathing error on Nancy Drew game” into Google, and it took me to a page on HerInteractive.com with instructions on how to fix the problem. Easy-peasy.

Once installed, I had only one other major issue with the game: it just stopped running. This only happened once and honestly, wouldn’t have been a very big deal if I hadn’t been stupid. You see, I had played for about three hours without saving. Like a dummy. So I lost all that I’d done. Like a dummy. Fortunately, I really like taking good notes. I replayed the first chunk of the game at warp speed.

There were a number of minor issues, mostly with the syncing of audio and visual elements of the game. More often than not, speaking to other characters would knock the video behind the audio, leading to some awkward moments of silence while the character finished displaying what they had to say. It didn’t affect gameplay and I was mostly able to ignore it, but it did get jarring at times, particularly if a character gestured while they spoke.

Final Thoughts

Scarlet Hand was a lot of fun to replay. Though it’s not as strong or iconic as some of the other games in the series, it’s solid. If you’ve never played it or haven’t played it in a while, it’s definitely worth a shot, but I wouldn’t recommend it as an introduction to the series.

I completely forgot about The Final Scene when I was thinking about starting this review project and it surprised me when it came up in the queue. The only reason I could think of for my memory lapse was the fact that The Final Scene happened to follow Treasure in the Royal Tower, so it gets overshadowed, despite its solid gameplay and story.

Promotional art from HerInteractive.com

The Backstory

Nancy travels to St. Louis to accompany her friend from high school, Maya Nguyen, on a journalism assignment for her university paper. Maya has been asked to interview Brady Armstrong about his role in the film Vanishing Destiny, the last event to take place at the historic Royal Palladium theater before it is scheduled to be torn down. When Maya enters a room alone, she is kidnapped from right beneath Nancy’s nose! Maya’s kidnapper is holding her somewhere in the building in an attempt to keep the building from being destroyed and it’s up to Nancy to find her before it’s too late.

Atmosphere and Gameplay

The Royal Palladium Theater is a beautiful building filled with hidden passageways, secret rooms, and the secrets to magicians’ tricks. I thoroughly enjoyed my time running around the area, snooping for the next hidden thing. The space is small enough to avoid having to travel between areas, but large enough to feel like a full-fledged experience, creating an overall fantastic space for exploration and play. The game’s music also continues to be top-notch, building on Treasure in the Royal Tower‘s introduction of excellent audio elements to the series. It’s hard to find background music that is exciting enough to be worth listening to without being distracting, but Her Interactive has nailed it two games in a row.

But it’s not all fun and games while exploring the theater. The impending demolition creates a time crunch that is all too obvious while playing the game. Rather than seeing the in-game time on Nancy’s pocket-watch like all the preceding titles, you see what day it is. This serves as a constant reminder that you don’t have the time you need to solve the case. Pair that with the reminders from other characters that time is running low, and you’ve created an adrenaline-soaked rush to save your friend.

At least, that’s the idea. The game won’t move forward until you’ve done everything you need to do in order to get to the next point in the story, so if you get stuck, you’re stuck. Then the time limit begins to feel arbitrary. There’s no true rush because you know that the time a “day” takes is not based off of any real measure of time. Instead, it’s a measure of actions.

I have no idea how the developers could have gone about this another way to ramp up the tension. My initial thought was to let me fail if I didn’t do everything I needed to and make me suffer the consequences, but I squashed that almost immediately. The Nancy Drew games aren’t geared toward an audience that would appreciate getting to the end of the game only to find out they got the “bad ending.” I enjoy games like that, but I also realize that I would be in the teeniest of minorities in the Nancy Drew fan club.

Characters

Maya Nguyen: Nancy’s high school friend and main contact in St. Louis. Maya is working as a reporter for her campus paper and invites Nancy along to her interview with Brady Armstrong, star of the recent film Vanishing Destiny. Her kidnapping sets off the events of the game, and her absence means we don’t learn much about her as a character.

Brady Armstrong: Brady is a “wholesomely smoldering” actor with a large fan base. Series veterans will see echoes of Rick Arlen from Stay Tuned for Danger in his character model and mannerisms, but Brady feels much more realistic and likable.

Simone Mueller: Simone eats, lives, and breathes her job as Brady’s manager, and views Maya’s kidnapping as a great opportunity to get her client into the public eye. Simone is always on the phone and her interpersonal skills are practically non-existent, but that doesn’t bother her. She’s a powerful woman and she knows it. Despite her abrasiveness, I really liked her character design.

Joseph Hughes: Joseph has been the caretaker of the Royal Palladium for as long as anyone can remember, but he doesn’t seem terribly upset about its destruction. He is always there to offer Nancy a helping hand in finding Maya, and seems to be the only one to share Nancy’s concern for Maya’s well-being. He is instantly likeable and quickly became my go-to person when I would get a little stuck.

Nicholas Falcone: Falcone is the leader of H.A.D. I.T. — Humans Against the Destruction of Illustrious Theaters — the organization that is desperately protesting against the Royal Palladium’s upcoming demise. His revolutionary streak can be a little overdone, but overall the game does a good job of balancing his hopefulness and desperation.

What Makes This One Special

So far, Nancy has had a personal connection to each of her cases — usually because her host/hostess is a friend of the family — but this is by far the most personal case she has been involved in. Her friend is kidnapped practically in front of her and she feels that she’s the only one who can do something about it. This personal aspect, paired with the time limit of the theater’s destruction, makes for an intense and emotional storyline.

Because of this, Nancy is downright sassy in this game. Or she can be, if you go with the right dialog options. Even my husband noticed her new-found spunk and commented on it while I played. I loved this. It went against the wholesome, unassuming but brilliant heroine that I had always pictured in the Nancy Drew books, but it felt right. She’s a driven young woman who’s been having to make her way in a traditionally male world of investigation. Of course she’s got a core of slow-burning rage that pops out every once in a while! And if having a friend kidnapped and then no one believe that it’s a big deal doesn’t set off that dormant volcano of delicious rage-lava, I don’t know what would!

Conclusion

Though I didn’t love The Final Scene quite as much as Treasure in the Royal Tower, it’s certainly not a title to be sneezed at. Quite frankly, I’m ashamed that I didn’t remember this one right away, because I loved playing through it. If you have the game and haven’t picked it up in a while, go ahead and give it another whirl. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Treasure in the Royal Tower marks a turning point for Her Interactive’s Nancy Drew series. Previous titles have been fine in their own right, but Treasure in the Royal Tower is clearly on another level. Widely considered to be one of the greatest games of the series, TitRT has a lot going for it.

Story

After her last three cases, Nancy is ready for some much-needed R&R. To unwind, she decides to visit Wickford Castle Ski Resort in Wisconsin. But before she can hit the slopes, a blizzard snows her and a few others into the castle.

Shortly after getting trapped inside by the weather, strange things begin happening in the castle. The historical library is vandalized and an eccentric woman’s room is robbed. Rumors abound that the incidents are connected to the valuable secret hidden within Marie Antionette’s tower, which has been sealed off since its addition to the castle by the original millionaire owner.

Gameplay & Atmosphere

Immediately apparent is the beauty of the game. Wickford Castle is a gorgeous setting and Her Interactive did a great job making the castle rich in detail. Though the game takes place completely in the castle and the immediate grounds, it doesn’t feel as claustrophobic as Message in a Haunted Mansion. Part of this is due to the castle’s larger size, but most of it comes from how fun it is to go around and look at all the paintings, the tapestries, and to examine the intricate work on the furnishings.

Just to top off the pleasant, atmospheric experience is the background music. The background music isn’t particularly interesting in the first three games, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, background music is supposed to fade, you know, into the background. But TitRT manages to create a soundtrack that is never distracting, while also quite pleasant to listen to. It’s perfect for the visually lovely setting, and I found myself pausing to simply enjoy it while wandering the halls to get to my next destination.

The real core of the game, the puzzles that actually make TitRT a game, are top-notch as well. I often found myself challenged, but never felt as though I would be stuck forever. Re-playing the game reminded me just how many puzzles I consider to be particularly good come from this title.

Characters

TitRT also offers much more visually pleasing character models. Despite the excellent voice work in all of the Nancy Drew games, the jerky movements and over-expressive faces of previous character models are just a little too far in the uncanny valley for comfort. Talking with others in TitRT is a much more pleasant experience.

It’s not just the improved models that make this so nice, but the bang-up job Her Interactive did with characterization. The various suspects are each interesting in their own right.

Dexter Egan

Mr. Egan is the caretaker of the castle. He does everything from cleaning to cooking, and has neither time nor patience for socialization. He’s gruff, but in a “I’m-kind-of-mean-to-everybody-not-just-you” kind of way. He doesn’t like to talk about his past, or the mysterious tower. Of course in a Nancy Drew game, this makes him instantly suspicious.

Jacques Brunais

Jacques is the resort’s ski instructor. Once an Olympic-level athlete, Jacques came to the states after choking in competition and shaming his mother-country of France. He is fascinated by the tower because of its deep connection to French history, but is he desperate enough to restore his name that he’d be willing to spirit the treasure within back home?

Lisa Ostrum

Lisa is a photojournalist covering Wickford Castle as part of her beat. She’s curious about the tower and desperate to find a way in, but is it to add excitement to her story, or receive personal financial gain?

Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss

Professor Hotchkiss is a historian working on a book about Marie Antoinette. She came to Wickford Castle to be near the tower and see if any secrets about the infamous queen could be unearthed by examining it. Her eccentric nature makes her suspicious, since she refuses to leave her room, and won’t tell anyone what was stolen from within it.

On a personal note, I must say that Professor Hotchkiss is one of my favorite characters in the entire Nancy Drew franchise, if not my absolute favorite. She’s just so much fun! And I’m not alone in this by a long shot.

Recommendation

Whether you’re new to the series or a Senior Detective, Treasure in the Royal Tower is worth your time. It is solid enough to withstand a playing without a golden layer of nostalgia coloring it, so new players will have a good time. Older players will see some tropes that are used in later games coming up for the first time. Not to mention a certain recurring character…